OTTAWA – The federal Health Department wants medical marijuana suppliers to provide provincial authorities with information on the doctors who prescribe the substance.
And they want them to issue semi-annual reports on the physicians who prescribe marijuana for their patients.
The reports would include the doctor’s name and address, how much of the substance was prescribed and for how long.
READ MORE: Doctors uneasy being ‘gatekeepers’ under new medical pot rules
The proposed regulations were published Friday by the federal government.
The provinces and territories “have identified the need to provide better education and guidance for and monitoring of their members who provide medical documents to their patients to support their access to marijuana for medical purposes,” the notice states.
It says that better monitoring of health-care practitioners who provide their patients with the substance “would help support the integrity” of the new medical marijuana system.
“We have consulted with health care licensing bodies who expressed a need for the data on how doctors and nurses are authorizing marijuana to their patients and in which quantities,” Health Minister Rona Ambrose said in a statement.
“The proposed regulatory amendments will further strengthen public health and safety by ensuring appropriate oversight and monitoring.”
- Trudeau tight-lipped on potential U.S. TikTok ban as key bill passes
- Canadian man dies during Texas Ironman event. His widow wants answers as to why
- Hundreds mourn 16-year-old Halifax homicide victim: ‘The youth are feeling it’
- On the ‘frontline’: Toronto-area residents hiring security firms to fight auto theft
On April 1, Health Canada radically altered the rules for medical marijuana, opening its production up to the commercial sector, expanding it from a cottage industry of thousands of loosely regulated growers.
READ MORE: Free pot for a year? There’s a contest for that (but it comes with some rules)
As of late last month, the department had received 858 applications from a variety of firms wanting to be medical marijuana suppliers.
On Friday, the department said in a statement that it does not endorse marijuana use, but the courts have required reasonable access to it for medical purposes.
“Marijuana is not an approved drug or medicine in Canada and has not gone through the necessary rigorous scientific trials for efficacy or safety,” it said.
Comments